Edinburgh

Scotland · castles · cities

Castle on a Rock. Edinburgh Castle sits on top of an ancient volcano that erupted millions of years ago. The volcano is long gone, but its hard rock core remains, making the perfect spot for a fortress that has stood for over 900 years.

Two Towns Combined. Edinburgh grew as two separate towns in the medieval times: the old town clustered around the castle, and the new town built in neat grid patterns in the 1700s. Today you can walk between them and see how different they look.

Half a Million People. About 506,000 people live in Edinburgh, making it Scotland's second biggest city after Glasgow. When you count everyone in the surrounding area, there are almost a million people.

Water on Three Sides. Edinburgh is squeezed between the Firth of Forth (a wide bay of the sea) to the north and the Pentland Hills to the south, which helped protect it from invaders and made it easy to defend.

Festival City. Every year Edinburgh hosts the world-famous Festival where thousands of musicians, actors, and performers come to the city to put on shows. It's the biggest arts festival on the planet.